Featured Technical ***October 2025 Banger Meet Thread - Happy Hallloween***

Link to previous month: September 2025 Banger Meet

Coming Events: (PM Jiminy with additions/corrections)
22nd Annual North Central Iowa
Wayne Atkinson Memorial Speed Meet
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Worth County Fairgrounds, Northwood, Iowa
4 miles south of the Minnesota Border, 7 miles east of I - 35

Stay safe.

For the HAMB banger newbies, here are some links to a lot of banger info:

Jim Brierley's book 4-bangers! And me! is a must read book for all banger enthusiasts. US customers send $34.00 all color except for the oldest pictures (includes S/H in the U.S.A.), PayPal welcome, to:
Jim Brierley, 39480 Colleen Way, Temecula, CA 92592.
email: jimb4e4@gmail.com
phone: 951-695-7313.

A few links to speed equipment companies there may be more
https://specialtymotorcams.com/index.php#header
http://www.millerhi-speedheads.com/index.html
http://www.modelatrader.com/brumfield/brumfield.html
https://www.hotforhotfours.com/advertisers.htm
https://www.secretsofspeed.com/speed-parts
https://eraspeed.com/

Bert's, Synder's, Mikes affordable also list some speed performance parts.

Here is a list of most of the prior monthly banger meet links:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=161498

Banger basics. another info link list:
http://www.fordgarage.com/

http://www.plucks329s.org/index.htm

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=251717

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=42480

The link below shows flywheel lightening dimensions
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/may-bang-er-thread.470853/page-4#post-5212157
and this link shows the missing image from the above post
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...-work-on-bangers.1010716/page-3#post-11427055

The 4 Banger hot rod picture thread.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-4-banger-hot-rod-picture-thread.997051/

Model B rod bearing insert numbers
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6992484#post6992484

Engine tuning with a Vacuum gauge
http://web.archive.org/web/20120415...e.com/tuning-with-a-vacuum-gauge-spg-148.html

Adjusting dual Strombergs:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6638461#post6638461

Helpful Model A tools and tips:
http://www.maurer-markus.ch/ford_a/tipps.index.en.html

Gary in MN's late model Malory distributor conversion for A/B engine:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9147025&postcount=109

Elrod's stuck head tech:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=218487

Model A generator to alternator conversion:
http://ejwhitneyco.com/automotive.html

Gear ratio / speed and RPM calculator:
http://www.accuautoparts.com/calculator.php

Model A master cylinder mounting bracket ideas:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...73#post4953173

Go here to read the 1931 edition of Harry Ricardo's book "The High Speed Internal Combustion Engine"
http://www.scribd.com/full/40610101?access_key=key-w2bcjicdancrnxypd05

Chevy Banger Stuff
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=463465

Post 198 starts a great discussion of the shape of a flat head combustion chamber
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=470853&page=10

T-5 5 speed in a Torque Tube:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256226

Model A & B Style Cast Iron Cylinder Head Compression Ratios.
http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/headcompressionratio.htm

 

Here!

 

Here's my banger in my coupe. .040 over, big valves, HOOF head, isky 77b cam, balanced. Gear drive intake with 2 knock off 97s. Lightened flywheel with v8 clutch.

 

Just a review, Bert's rebuild some years ago, very little mileage, just replaced head gasket, Brierley 7:1 head, Yapp Equalizer dual intake, running a 97 and what I think is a 48, FSIgnition with 18 degree advance. The engine runs well, but idles at about 1200 and I can't get it down any lower. Is this normal or any suggestions? Thank you.
Warren

 

Vacuum leak…?

 

The propane test doesn't seem to produce any results.
Warren

 

stromberg bases can be tricky sometimes.. check that your throttle plates are closing all the way, to get you into the idle circuit.. use a uni sync tool to see which carb is pulling all the air in.. a buddy was just having this trouble on flathead v8.. turned out one of the throttle plate screws came out.. big hole to pull air through.. Just a thought for you.. @wuga

 

I've been away with work for nearly a month, now back for 10 days, then away on holidays.

So I put the coupe on jack stands, and I'll prepare it for the summer when I get back.

 

I was just talking with Charlie Yapp and he confirmed a suspicion I had in the back of my mind. Despite any flaws with the carbs, these two combined are too big on his manifold in this application. He is suggesting a pair of 81s will be more than adequate. Both carbs are primaries.
Warren

 

A 97 is big, and a 48 is bigger. Both on a banger sounds like too much.

 

Regardless, of size, it should still be possible to get the idle down. Something, somewhere is holding a throttle plate open. I would check the throttle plates on both carbs. BOTH plates should be fully against the bore walls. If not loosen the plate screws and move the plate. Too much carb might not run well but being "too much carb" is not your problem. Just a thought.

 

Nothing too much to report.. I decided to replace the pegboard with some old douglas fir barn wood! Still need to figure out some provisions to mount cylinder heads without damage!

Wishing I still had one of the original aluminum timing covers I casted, I forgot to include myself in the run when I did them!

 

just north of 10k miles so far this year on the Vicky....getting ready to trek to the Gathering at the Roc, leaving Wednesday....just going over things and fixing the brake light switch so it doesn't flash the brake lights on rough road....gonna have to gas weld some length on the stem....
have fun banging down the road boys....

 

great collection of goodies.

Q: upper left gizmo? magneto & water pump?

thanks

 

So my p'up suddenly started missing, no biggie I thought. A little troubleshooting I'll get to the bottom of it. Start and idle fine, rev to about 1500 then start missing and get worse the higher the revs. Went through the usual troubleshooting, cleaning tightening checking. No change. Turns out, not One but Two bad new(er) coils. One was a Bosch. I put an old crusty one that was on my roadster when I got it back in 2008 and runs perfect again. You wouldn't believe all the swapping, testing, head-scratching I did thinking the first coil change was ok.. Just to be sure, I put both back on and the symptoms came right back. Strangely, they will do it cold or hot. I'm running the old big brass Mallory condensor so it appears to have weathered the storm okay. Live and learn...

 

@wuga I ran a pair of Holley 94's on my roadster for years and could idle it right down even with a warm cam and light flywheel. Block off one carb base on the manifold and check each of your carbs I'll bet you'll find the issue.

 

Rather odd****ortment of parts. It's a Frontenac style Side drive, with a Fronty water pump, and a Robert Bosche FU4 magneto. Manual advance which makes things interesting!

 

"hey look, lady. this magneto ain't gonna advance itself, y'know."

 

^^ Using that line on my wife ASAP

 

Yes there was wailing and gnashing of teeth... Banged thru a new utility patch that crossed the street next to the shop. The cover rolled across and nailed the curb square on. I was able to get it beat back up straight using some wax backed shipping paper. I think I learned that trick from one of you English gents...
Only problem is I'll need to polish it to get the road rash out and that means polishing all four. I kind of liked the machined look. Oh well...

 

Good save

 

Score at Hershey scratch 7:1 Iron crowfoot Winfield off my bucket list

 

When I got home, I found out that the Wico I bought turns clockwise
I knew I was taking a chance, but to get tach drive was worth the risk.

 

Over the last year or so, it feels the only times I've hopped on here are to ask remedial questions due to lack of progress with my Chevy OHV conversion. So, allow me to continue...

I might throw a higher-compression head, a single downdraft intake, and an auto-advance distributor on my A to give me time to get it dialed in, and enjoy, Hot-Rod-A-Rama next year. Also, I need some low-effort horsepower in the meantime... it's big country out here.

I have a NOS Mallory YS701AVC - other than setting the ignition curve, is there anything that needs to be modified on these before they can be installed? I've seen some with bare shafts, but it looks like mine has the right drive splines.

 

Im using one of those on one of my cars. I had to remove the gear and make a sleeve to drive the shaft at the pump. Used a chunk or round stock cut to the right length and added the slots to drive it. I think the slot on the pump is offset.

 

That DOHC 4 banger is badass!

 

just get a bigger cam.... let it eat!!!!!

 

And a supercharger, then you won't care about the idle!
Just trying to be helpful...

 

I have a NOS Mallory YS701AVC - other than setting the ignition curve, is there anything that needs to be modified on these before they can be installed? I've seen some with bare shafts, but it looks like mine has the right drive splines.[/QUOTE]

I have built three engines that use this distributor; they are very well made and relatively easy to adapt. That being said, there is a little more to it than has been mentioned so far. There's basically four machining operations involved. The distributor body needs to be shortened, and turned down to fit the opening in the head. The gear needs to be removed and the shaft shortened to expose the part of the shaft that's 0.50 in diameter. The tang that drives the distributor needs to be machined into the end of the shaft. When modified in this fashion a standard sleeve from a Model A distributor will fit on the shaft and can be pinned in place.

Mallory offered a spring kit PN 29014 that had a wide variety of springs that could be used to adjust these distributors. Not sure if the spring kit is still available but it included some helpful charts showing the curves resulting from various combinations of springs. I am using one gray spring and one orange spring in the distributors I am running on engines with 6-7.0:1 compression heads. The distributor has 24 degrees of centrifugal advance, which is all you need for a high compression head. I use the timing pin and set them straight up at TDC. Found this out the hard way after breaking two Model A crankshafts that I now attribute to too much advance.

Last year I did a detailed write-up with dimensions on how I modified the distributor pictured below. You can see the changes to the lower part of the distributor by comparing it to the photo in Tumblin' Dice's post. If you would like a copy of the write-up send me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll send a PDF back to you.

 

That's good info on the springs, I've got one of those that was modded to fit an A, but I haven't run it yet. I'll open it up and have a look. Thanks!